Not long before the scheduled October 2025 release of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, its developer, The Chinese Room, has experienced a round of layoffs. These changes come as part of the company’s restructuring efforts, raising questions about the game’s future timeline.
The journey to Bloodlines 2’s release has been quite bumpy. Since its initial reveal at E3 2019, fans of the original cult classic CRPG have had to wait patiently through various delays and updates. Despite the ongoing challenges, the Chinese Room has continued to share news and build high hopes around the title throughout this year.
However, the recent layoffs have stirred some concern. While the developer has made no official statement, several affected employees have mentioned the situation on LinkedIn, describing it as a “scourge of redundancy.” Job titles like VFX artists and Technical Producer have been mentioned among those that were let go.
The parent company, Sumo Group, confirmed to Game Developer that these layoffs are part of “ongoing restructuring efforts.” It’s a reminder that even late-stage projects aren’t immune to such shifts, which can be tough on everyone involved.
Bloodlines 2 has been in development limbo for quite some time, experiencing delays longer than some famously troubled games, such as Cyberpunk 2077. Whether this latest wave of layoffs signals just a minor bump or further postponements remains to be seen. The Steam page still lists the release as planned for 2025, but honestly, that date feels kind of optimistic right now.
For now, we can only wish those impacted by the layoffs the best in their next steps. As for Bloodlines 2, I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear about another delay before long. What do you think? Could this be the final hurdle or a sign of more to come?
